Fourth teen indicted in Dunbar gang rape

August 17, 2007|By Chrystian Tejedor Staff Writer and Staff Researchers Barbara Hijek and William Lucey contributed to this report.

An 18-year-old already jailed on gun theft, drug and other charges became the oldest suspect indicted so far in the beating and gang rape of a mother and her son in Dunbar Village, West Palm Beach police said Thursday.

Tommy Lee Poindexter is expected to appear before a Palm Beach County judge this morning for a hearing to determine bail.

Poindexter is not expected to enter a plea on charges of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, kidnapping, promoting the sexual performance by a child, grand theft of a motor vehicle and burglary with assault or battery.

As with the previous three arrests in this case, police said physical evidence tied the suspect to the crime.

But Poindexter's mother, Harriet Rogers, said there was no way her youngest son could have been involved.

"When this happened, we were living in Lake Park and he was on house arrest," she said, lying in bed and struggling to hold back tears. "I'm not saying he's a good, good child. I'm a mother and I don't believe it.

"I do believe he's innocent."

Poindexter himself denied any involvement in the June 18 attack on the 35-year-old woman and her 12-year-old son, police said.

The woman has told police that as many as 10 males beat, raped and sodomized her over three hours. She was briefly lured out of her apartment by a knock at the door and a male who said the tires on her car were flat. Masked gunmen grabbed the woman when she went outside, then entered her apartment.

She was sexually assaulted with a gun, a bottle and a bar of soap.

The assailants, thought to be teens as young as 14, smashed a plate over her son's head and poured household chemicals in his eyes. They tried to force the child to have intercourse with his mother, and managed to get the mother to perform oral sex on her son.

Police said the attackers then doused the mother with chemicals to destroy evidence, but investigators found fingerprints and a condom inside the woman's rowhouse.

That physical evidence helped investigators link three minors to the rape, Avion Lawson, 14; Nathan Walker Jr., 16; and Jakaris Taylor, 15. They will be tried as adults.

The attack outraged city leaders and area residents and made national headlines. The city stepped up police patrols, and armed security forces wearing armor restored order after residents complained about feeling unsafe. Police also plan to install surveillance cameras.

Donations poured in to help the victims recover. The woman and son have since moved out of Dunbar Village.

Urban Youth Impact, a West Palm Beach faith-based group, is planning a prayer walk at the complex Saturday morning.

A police spokesman on Thursday declined to specify the physical evidence that police said tied Poindexter to the crime and the extent to which he participated in the rape.

"It's an open investigation," said Peter Robbins, the spokesman. "I cannot say anything about his role in things."

West Palm Beach police interviewed Poindexter after the Sheriff's Office arrested him Aug. 8 on outstanding charges of grand theft of a firearm and failing to appear in traffic court.

Deputies also charged him with resisting arrest, saying he tried to run away, and possession of marijuana after they found six baggies in his front left pocket, according to a Sheriff's Office report.

Poindexter had prior arrests on charges of probation violation and burglary.

Poindexter was not enrolled in school because of his probation, but his mother said he was set to enroll in Job Corps, a federal program that helps people 16 to 24 learn a trade or earn a GED.

His family never thought Poindexter, the boy who loved playing basketball, would be accused of rape. He never told his family he had been interviewed by police.

"He called from the county jail and we talked about the charges he was arrested on," said Poindexter's father, Masterson Poindexter. "I haven't talked to him about [the rape charges]. I wouldn't expect him to do that at all."

Staff Researchers Barbara Hijek and William Lucey contributed to this report.

Chrystian Tejedor can be reached at ctejedor@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6445.